Temple-mounted hearing aid control



Dec. 8, 1959 J. F. ROSE 2,916,538

TEMPLE-MOUNTED HEARING AID CONTROL Filed Sept. 8. 1958 F/Q, 6 A pL-untR f Pcwzz sunny. aA-r-ruay rra.

5), JOHN 1'? P055 Arromvrrs This invention relates tospectacle-mounted hearing aids, 'and'more specifically relates to the source of power in such hearing aids and the control therefor.

Although there has been a trend in the recent past to miniaturize the several components of such hearing aids, it has been necessary'to provide manual controls of such size as to facilitate ready and easymanipulation thereof. The problem-of providing easily"man ipulatable controls becomes particularly acute when the complete hearing aid unitis mounted in .one of, the temples of the'spectacles; An object of my invention is the provision 'of'a new and; improved{ ternp'lemounted hearing aid control of p simple-and inexpensive ;confstruc'tion and operation;

Another fobjeet of my inventionis to provide a novel" temple-mountedhearingaid-control adapted to be readily and 'easily moved between a pluralityyof"positions by" manual'iirgin --a gainstenga'geablefsurfaces which closely i g followv the ge'neral surface contour-of the" temple and 7 which are nemau-y'aispesedin an out-of the-way position.

Still-another object-'of my=inventionis to provide an improved temple construct-ion=containing hearing aid cit-- cuitry and ihc'orporatin'g a dual purpose-battery carrying and: switch operatingmechanism which. is readily-Eaccessible and .-is of= sueh proportions as 4 to facilitate ready and;

easy loperationthereof by a persons-handp Thesesand other objects and advantages of inven-u tion' will more fully appear: from the following: descriptionmade :in': :connectionxwith" the accompanying udra'wings wlxereini lilq'e'rreferencer character's refer to 'the-[sameparts throughout that several'r-views vandtin :which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of a pair of spectaclesdncorporatingsthepresent :inventionxand'showin'g. in dotted lines theggeneral Iocatiomof-tthe: majorccomponents in :one*of-- the temple; hearing". aid iunits; s.

Fig-.1 2 is a greatly enlarged;detailaelevation viewtaken approximatelyyatlfilin Figiul andnbeing partly. broken awayaand pagtlysshownain sectionandhaving the :battery removed; fonclarity-ofldetail; I

Fig., .3 is .a view substantially identical to-Fig.= 2 with the. carrierishown in shiftedsposition; andv Fig. 5} is a. detail ,sfection viewstaken approximately. along a line indic'ate'dlatA i in Figlg, and

Fig.5 is a bloclcdiagram'pf the hearing .aid circuitry employed in the 'unit;

The-spectacles, "which are indicated in general by numeral 10; include a substantially conventional spectacle frame 11 0f any suitable-design'.-= The spectacles 10 have a pair oftempleskor bowswhich are indicated in general by;:nurneral"f12,- .which .aresidentical. with eachother. A description-of one-.ofthe temples-will suffice for anunderstanding ofrboth It will be=.understood thatxthez'temples' must; be-arranged. for the-'g-rightandleftsideswEach of:

the. temples, 12Ccomprises -.an;.:e longate. rigid member' 13 which-is adapted to .lieieilongqthesideofa personshead- I and which may bemade ,up. of one or.more .structuralw parts, b ut ;in a ny ev e,nt,v a portion, vof the rigid member.

is constructed to I contaiml and actually: does contain, the

components and circuitry of a complete hearing aid 'u'nit which includes, in general, a transmitter T, a transistor amplifier A, a receiver R, and a power supply P. The general locationof these major components in one of the portions 14 is shown in Fig. l. The forward end portion 15 'of the rigid member 13' is connected by means of a hinging'structure 16 to the spectacle frame 11.

The rear endportion -17 of the rigid member 13 defines a multi-sided interior'compartment 18 which has closed top and outer sides 19 and 20 respectively defined by portions integral with the rear portion 17 of rigid member 13, and a closed inner side or cover plate 21 which is seated on shoulder surfaces 22 and which is retained in stationary relation as by screws 23 and 24. The compartment 18'has a pair of elongate open sides 25 and 26 which respectively open in downward and rearward or upward directionsand which may be described as lying transversely of the'inner side or cover plate 21 at the rear tip of the temple; The open sides 25 and 26 of the compartment 18 are disposed at acute angles with-respect to each other.

A swingable battery carrier and switch-operator 27 is provided in thecompartment 18,-and has a cylindrical chamber 28 therein toreceive and carry a substantially cylindrical battery 29-. The carrier 27 has an inner side 27a confined within the compartment 18 and has a pair of elongate andgenerally linear outer sides 27b and 270 which arerespectively disposed at the open sides 25 and 26 'of "the compartment 18 and exteriorally exposed through the .opensides of the compartment. In Fig. 2 it will belseenthat in this form of the-invention, the exposed sides 27b and 27c of the carrier are oriented at an acute angle with respect toeach other which is slightly larger than the-acute angular relation between the sides I 25"and 2 6of the compartment so that the corresponding side 27 normally projects slightly outwardly beyond the open side26 of the compartment, but in any event the exposed sides 27b and 2700f the carrier generally follow the contour of the rear portion 17 of the rigid member 13.

Means are provided for swingably mounting the carrier 27 in the compartment, and in the form shown, a mounting post 30 is formed integrally with the outer side wall 20 of the compartment and is positioned adjacent the rearwardly projecting corner between the angular open sides 25 fand-26ff Threaded insert 31 is provided in the post 30, and thescrew 23 is' threadably secured in the insert 31 and a smooth neck portion 236: of the screw projects through and swingably mounts the carrier 27 in a suitably provided bearing aperture 27d. It Will be seen that the open side 25 Yet the compartment 18 is of such dimensions as to permit swinging of the entire carrier outwardly therethroughuso as to facilitate replacement of thebattery 29. The-carrier 27 'incorporates a small forwardly projecting lip 27e which-may be manually gripped to assist in outward (counterclockwise in Fig. 2) swinging of the carrier. The top side 19 of the compartment and the carrier 27 have matching and spaced abutment surfaces 27 f and 19a which engage each other and prevent outward swinging of the'carrier' in a clockwise direction and through the open side 26.

The battery 29 has a substantially cup-shaped housing 32 defining an outer cylindrical terminal surface 33 and the battery also has another terminal surface portion 34 at the bottom thereof.

A generally triangularly shaped recess or cavity 35 is provided in the outer side 20 of the chamber, and spring contacts 3.6 are positioned in the cavity 35 to engage the 36 when the carrier is swung outwardly.

A second spring contact 39 is also mounted on the rib 38 as by a screw 40 and the spring contact 39 is arranged to engage the inner side 27a of the carrier 27 to project through an opening 41 therein for engagement with the terminal surface 33 of the battery. It will be seen that the end of switch contact 39 is substantially V-shaped to provide a detent and camming surfaces to lift the spring contact 39 out of the detent-receiving opening 41 and out of engagement with the battery 29 when the carrier is moved from the position shown in Fig. 2 to the position shown in Fig. 3. A detent-receiving notch 42 is also provided in the inner side 27:: of the carrier to receive the spring contact 39 as seen in Fig. 3 so as to retain the carrier against accidental movement when the carrier has been shifted to disengage the battery from the spring contact 39.

In operation, a battery is normally contained in the chamber 28 as seen in Fig. 4. When the hearing aid contained within the rigid member 13 is to be operated, the carrier 27 is positioned as shown in Fig. 2 so that the contact 39 engages the battery 29. Power is supplied by the battery through the spring contacts 39 and 36 and through the wires 43 to the hearing aid circuitry so as to permit operation of the hearing aid. When the hearing aid is to be turned ofii, the spectacles will most likely, but not necessarily, be removed from the users head. With the thumb and fore finger, the user may easily engage the exposed sides 27b and 270 and the adjacent portions of the rigid member 13 at the rear portion 17 thereof and manipulate the carrier 27 to the position shown in Fig. 3, whereupon, by camming action the spring contact 39 is moved out of engagement with the battery and subsequently, the spring contact 39 drops into the notch 42 to retain the carrier against additional outward swinging.

When the hearing aid is to be rendered operative again, the carrier is again manually manipulated by engaging the side 2711 and urging the carrier back to the position shown in Fig. 2.

The accessibility and ease of manual operation of this control for the hearing aid circuitry is emphasized. Battery 29 may be approximately one-half inch in diameter and therefore, with the carrier 27 being correspondingly proportioned, no trouble at all is encountered by a person in properly engaging and manipulating the carrier to perform the switching operation. It should be further noted that because the manually engageable exposed sides of the carrier follow the general configuration or contour of the tip of the template it is quite unlikely that the carrier or switch operator will be accidentally moved and it is further unlikely that any portions of the carrier will become entangled with a persons hair or the like. The slight rearward projection of the side 270 of the carrier makes shifting of the carrier extremely easy when the hearing aid is to be turned off. When the spring contact 39 drops into the notch 42, the side 270 is substantially parallel with the edges of the inner and outer sides 21 and 20 respectively so that normally it is quite unlikely that the carrier will be moved further than is necessary.

If the battery 29 is to be replaced, the carrier 27 is swung outwardly beyond the position shown in Fig. 3 and the entire chamber 28 will be disposed outwardly from the open side 25 and the battery may be easily slipped out of the chamber 28 and another battery may be inserted. The carrier 27 will then be swung back into the compartment 18.

It will be seen that I have provided a new and improved hearing aid temple construction wherein the battery and mounting therefor, which are of substantial size and may be easily manually manipulated, are employed as a switch operator. It should further be seen that because of the dual functions of the battery and battery carrier, miniaturization of the general hearing aid construction is facili tated with provision being made for relatively large manually engageable and manipulatable control parts.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, detail, arrangement and proportion of the parts without departing from the scope of the invention which consists of the matter described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A temple for spectacles and the like comprising an elongate rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and having a forward end adapted for attachment to the spectacle frame, said member also having a rear end portion defining a multi-sided compartment with openings through a pair of exterior sides thereof, an insulating carrier in the compartment and having an electrically conductive part thereon, means mounting the carrier for movement toward and away from said openings, said carrier having manually engageable surface portions respectively disposed adjacent corresponding openings, one of said surface portions projecting through the corresponding opening and the other surface portion being movable outwardly through the corresponding opening, a first contact secured in the compartment and slidably engaging said conductive part, a second spring contact secured in the compartment and engaging the conductive part, the carrier and conductive part being arranged to disengage the second contact from the part when the carrier is moved in one direction, and said contacts being connected with said circuitry.

- 2. A temple for spectacles and the like, comprising an elongate rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and having a forward end adapted for attachment to the spectacle frame, said member also having a rear portion defining a multi-sided compartment with a pair of exterior and generally elongate adjacent sides angularly related to each other and having openings therethrough, an insulating carrier in the compartment and having an electrically conductive part thereon, means swingably mounting the carrier for movement toward and away from said openings, said carrier having manually engagable surface portions respectively lying substantially in corresponding openings of the adjacent compartment sides to facilitate manually urging and moving said carrier, a first contact secured in the compartment and slidably engaging said conductive part, a second spring contact secured in the compartment and engaging the conductive part, the carrier being arranged to disengage the part from said second contact when the carrier is moved in one direction, and said contacts being connected with said circuitry.

3. A temple for spectacles and the like, comprising an elongate rigid member with power-operated electrical circuitry therein and having a forward end adapted for attachment to the spectacle frame, said member also having a rear end portion defining a multi-sided compartment with openings through a pair of exterior sides thereof, an insulating carrier in the compartment and having a battery secured thereon for movement with the carrier, said battery having a pair of terminal surfaces insulated from each other, means mounting the carrier for movement toward and away from said openings, said carrier having manually engageable surface portions exteriorally exposed through said openings and generally conforming to the exterior shape of said rear end portion, at least one of said surface portions being movable outwardly through the corresponding opening to permit movement of the carrier, a first contact secured in the compartment and slidably engaging one terminal surface of the battery, a second spring contact secured in the compartment and engaging the other terminal surface of the battery, the carrier being arranged to disengage the second contact from the corresponding terminal surface of the battery when the carrier is moved in one direction, and said contacts being connected with said circuitry to supply power thereto from the battery, whereby the carrier may be easilyxmoved: to z'control zapplica'tion of power from. 1 the battery.

4.. A =templefor spectacles andthe like, comprisingan elongate. rigid member'with electrical circuitry therein and havinga forward .end adapted for attachment to the spectacle framefsaid'memberalso having a rear end portioniwith an inner surface adapted to lie against the side of :aipersonshead, said rear endiportion defining a multisidedicompartment with agenerally rearwardly extending corner portion and a pair of generally elongate and angularly related .open sides adjacent the corner portion and lyingxgenerally transversely of=said inner surface, an insulating carrier in the. compartment and having an electrically .conductive partthereon, said carrier having a pair of .angularly related sides respectively disposed adjacent rtheopen sides of the compartment, one of the sides of. the carrier being movable outwardly through the corresponding open side of it-he compartment, and the other 'side of the carrienhaving auportion projecting through the. corresponding side-:ofthecompartment to facilitate moving the carrier, means swin'gably. mounting thecarrier .in the compartment. adjacent the rearwardly extending corner portions thereof, a first contact secured in the compartment and slidablyengaging said conductive part, a second springcontactsecured in the compartment and engaging the conductive part, the carrier being arranged to disengage the second contact from said part when the carrier is moved 'Within the compartment in one direction, and said contacts being connected with said circuitry.

5. A temple for spectacles and the like, comprising an elongate rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and having a forward end adapted for attachment to the spectacle frame, said member also having a rear end portion with an inner surface adapted to lie against the side of a persons head, said rear end portion defining a multi-sided compartment with a generally rearwardly extending corner portion and a pair of elongate open sides adjacent the corner portion and lying transversely of said inner surface, said open sides being obliquely oriented with respect to each other at a first acute angle, an insulating carrier in the compartment and having an electrically conductive part thereon and also having a pair of control surfaces adjacent the open sides of the compartment and exposed to the exterior therethrough to be manually manipulated for moving the carrier, said sides of the carrier also being obliquely oriented with respect to each other at a second acute angle greater than said first angle, a first contact secured in the compartment and slidably engaging said conductive part, a second spring contact secured in the compartment and engaging the conductive part, the carrier being constructed and arranged to disengage said second contact from the part when the carrier is moved in one direction, and said contacts being connected with the circuitry, whereby to control operation of the circuitry by moving said carrier.

6. The invention set forth in claim 4 and including matching abutment portions in the compartment and on the carrier and limiting movement of the carrier outwardly through one of the open sides, the other open side of the compartment corresponding to the shape of the carrier and permitting outward swinging of the carrier therethrough.

7. The invention set forth in claim 6 wherein said conductive part comprises a battery, and said carrier having means removably mounting the battery thereon, whereby to facilitate replacement of the battery by swinging the carrier outwardly from the compartment.

8. A temple for spectacles and the like comprising an elongate rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and having a forward end adapted for attachment to the spectacle frame, said member also having a rear end portion having an inner surface adapted to lie against the sideof a persons head, said: rearaend-portion'defining a multi-sided compartment with a generally: rearwardly extending corner. portion and a'pair of:generally-elongate angularly related open sides adjacentthe corner-portion and lying transversely of: said inner surface, an insulating carrier in the compartment and having an enlarged chamber therein, said carrier-having an inner side con-. fined within the compartment and having a pair of elongate outer sides respectively disposed adjacent the open sides of the compartment, one of said outer sides of the carrier being movable through the corresponding open side of the compartment, the other of said outer-sides ofthe carrier having a portion projecting. outwardly through the corresponding open side of-the compartment to permit manual. engagement and manipulation of the carrier, means adjacentsaidco mer portion for swingably mounting the carrier in the compartment, a battery-in the chamber of the. carrier and having a pair of insulated terminal surface portions, one of said terminal surface portions extending circumferentially of the battery, the inner side ofthe carrier having an opening therethrough, a spring contact in the chamber and projecting through the opening in the carrier and. engaging the cir' cumferential'terminal surface of the battery, said spring contact and. the carrier having cooperative camming means to lift the contact out of the opening when the carrier is swung, and a second contact in the compartment and slidably engaging the other terminal surface portion of the battery, and said contacts being connected with the circuitry, whereby to control application of power from the battery by moving the carrier.

9. The invention set forth in claim 8 and the inner side of said carrier having a notch therein adjacent the opening to receive the spring contact and restrict movement of the carrier.

10. Apparatus applicable to hearing aids and the like, comprising a rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and defining a multi-sided compartment with openings through a pair of exterior sides thereof, and insulating carrier in the compartment and having a battery thereon for movement with the carrier, said battery having a pair of terminal surfaces insulated from each other, means mounting the carrier for movement toward and away from said openings, said carrier having manually engageable surface portions exteriorally exposed through said openings and generally conforming to the exterior shape of said member adjacent the compartment openings, at least one of said surface portions being movable outwardly through the corresponding opening to permit movement of the carrier, a first contact in the compartment and slidably engaging one terminal surface of the battery, 9. second spring contact secured in the compartment and engaging the other terminal surface of the battery, the carrier being arranged to disengage the second contact from the corresponding terminal surface of the battery when the carrier is moved in one direction, and said contacts being connected with said circuitry to supply power thereto from the battery, whereby the carrier may be easily moved to control application of power from the battery.

11. The invention set forth in claim 10 wherein one of said openings and the carrier have complementary shapes to permit the carrier to be substantially entirely removed from the rigid member through the opening to facilitate replacement of the battery.

12. Apparatus for use with hearing aids and the like, comprising a rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and having a corner portion defining an angular exterior, said member having a multi-sided compartment adjacent said corner portion with a pair of elongate and angularly related open sides adjacent the corner portion, and insulating carrier in the compartment and having a replaceable battery thereon, said carrier having a pair of angularly related sides respectively disposed adjacent the open sides of the compartment and exposed to the exterior therethrough for manual manipulation to facilitate moving the carrier, means swingably mounting the carrier in the compartment adjacent the corner portions of the member for movement toward and away from said openings, said carrier being oscillatable within the compartment between first and second positions, a first contact secured in the compartment and slidably engaging one terminal surface of the battery, a second spring contact secured in the compartment and engaging the other terminal surface of the battery when the carrier is in said first position, said second contact and said carrier having cooperatively camming detent means and detentreceiving means restraining movement of the carrier when in said first and second positions and lifting said second contact from the corresponding terminal surface of the battery when the carrier is shifted from said first position to said second position, and said contacts being connected with said circuitry.

13. A templefor use with spectacles, comprising an elongate rigid member with electrical circuitry therein and having a rear portion defining a multi-sided compartment with a pair of exterior and generally elongate adjacent sides angularly related to each other and having openings therethrough, a battery, a carrier removably mounting the battery and being swingably mounted in the compartment for movement toward and away from said openings, said carrier being oscillatable within the compartment between a first position wherein the battery energizes the circuitry and a second position wherein the circuitry is deenergized, one of the openings being shaped to permit swinging of the carrier and battery out of the compartment to permit removal of the battery from the carrier, the carrier having a portion normally projecting out of one of said openings when the carrier is in said first position, a first contact connected with the circuitry and secured in the compartment and engaging one terminal of the battery when the carrier is in said first and second positions, a second spring contact connected with the circuitry and secured in the compartment and engaging the other terminal of the battery when the carrier is in said first position, the said second contact and said carrier having cooperatively camming detent means and detent-receiving means restraining movement of the carrier when in said first and second positions and lifting the second contact off the battery terminal when the carrier is shifted from said first position to said second position.

No references cited. 

